Five Years Later, COVID Classes Make Up for Lost Major Reunions

While Ludwig Gutmann ’55 is looking forward to attending another Reunions this year, the occasion will be bittersweet. His 65th reunion was supposed to take place in 2020 — the last for his class before becoming part of the Old Guard — but it was canceled because of COVID. In an essay he wrote for PAW that year, Gutmann explained that for him the 65th was the most important reunion — a celebration of a lifetime of memories with a special locomotive for the class’s legacy.

But time goes on, and Gutmann hopes to make the most of it. “Princeton has a really special place in my heart,” he says. “I like coming every five years to Reunions. It’s a lot of fun and it brings back good memories.”

In the face of lockdowns across the country and the world, Reunions were canceled in 2020 and 2021. This threw a major wrench in the planning of those celebrating major reunions, as classes scrambled to organize virtual events and plan postponed gatherings. Five years later, PAW asked impacted classes to reflect on the experience as they prepare for their upcoming major.

Bruce Millman ’70, one of the co-presidents for the class and former Reunions chairman, tells PAW his class had started planning for its 50th the day after its 45th. They had purchased merchandise and were planning for about 600 people to attend in 2020. Then everything changed.

After two years of continued uncertainty, the class finally had the chance to celebrate its “50-plus-plus” reunion with 250 guests on campus in 2022. The University organized dinner on campus, but the class had to figure out housing, other meals, and activities.

Despite the challenges, Millman says there were some silver linings, including discovering new venues and collaborating with other classes. Now they look forward, as the class theme for its 55th is “still flying high.”

But, it’s hard not to think about what could have been.

As classmates have died and face health challenges, “At our age there are medical problems, there are more mobility issues, so it’s harder,” Millman says. “I hate to say it, but with each passing year those issues increase. So there’s a big difference between 50 and 55.”

The University decided to prioritize classes celebrating their 25th and 50th when planning Reunions 2022. “We hosted special class dinners to honor the 25th and 50th reunion classes from Reunions 2020 and 2021 — the Classes of 1995, 1996, 1970, and 1971,” University spokesman Michael Hotchkiss wrote in a statement to PAW. “Additionally, the 25th reunion classes marched at the front of the P-rade, right behind 1997. Given the uncertainty around attendance in 2022 and the concurrent planning of a special reunion and commencement for the Class of 2020, this was what the University could reasonably accommodate.”

Other classes that decided to celebrate their missed major had to do all the planning.

The Class of 2010 rang in its 10th reunion with a virtual concert featuring the ’80s tribute band Rubix Kube and the following year encouraged people who were comfortable gathering to have small meetups in their cities and towns. In 2022, then-Reunions co-chair Meaghan Byrne ’10 threw a celebration where more than 200 members of the class were able to gather in person at Princeton, but had to do so at Morven Museum and Garden since no special space was provided by the University. “People joked that I basically threw a wedding,” Byrne says.

As its 15th approaches, Byrne says she’s noticed some burnout across the class. “[I think] people who worked on this in 2020 didn’t see their efforts come to fruition and for a lot of people that’s just kind of probably a little demoralizing,” she says. But she’s hopeful that all they are planning for the “Tiger Gras” theme will lift spirits.

The Class of 1995 had a similar story — ultimately celebrating on its 27th reunion in collaboration with the two classes behind it. During the two-year hiatus, Reunions co-chairs Rick Corcoran ’95 and Bryce Dakin ’95 did what they could to keep up the excitement, including mailing out all the swag purchased for the 25th so classmates could wear and post pictures with the gear.

“I-95: The journey” has been an overarching theme for the class. The COVID years were a detour and its upcoming 30th is time to refuel.

But there’s no sense in harping on the past, Dankin says. “I think it’s behind people,” he says. “I think, you know, we didn’t want to make this 30th … feel [like] we’re looking backward. We’re looking forward.”